How to Find the Perfect Place to Retire Abroad Part 2

In the first part of our ‘how to find the perfect place to retire abroad’ article we examined the first five critical considerations that you need to have in mind if you’re thinking about moving away from ‘home’ in retirement.  We discussed elements such as accessibility and even your ability to cope with red tape.

And the point of these two article features is guiding you, personally, to the point at which you’re sure you’ve found the right place to move to overseas when you finally can put your feet up and retire.

Many surveys and reports aim to tell you where the best place is in the world to live, however such features never take you – personally and as an individual – into consideration.  So whilst Australia may be voted the most liveable nation by one survey, it might be your worst nightmare for a retirement hotspot!  This report on the other hand is all about you, and all about helping you to answer the essential questions you need to ask of any new country choice.

6) Security Detail

Certain so called emerging nations are often highlighted as great places to go and live because the cost of living is often exceptionally reasonable – and when it comes to countries such as Ecuador and Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand, yes, the price of day-to-day commodities from your essential utilities to your groceries is cheap.  But then, in many such nations, so is the value placed on life by certain elements of that nation’s society.  So when thinking about any nation you need to think about your own personal security.

Now, residing in the UK or the US won’t guarantee you personal safety – far from it, as both are nations dogged by high crime levels in certain areas.  However, when thinking about a new nation to live in, and even more specifically, about a new area of a nation to live in, think long, hard and carefully about the safety of that part of the world.

7) Money Matters…More Than Ever

In retirement most of us are going to be living on a fairly fixed income in the form of a pension, income from an annuity, returns on investments or perhaps rental income from property – therefore one has to be more careful than ever with money!  This means that you have to think carefully not only about the cost of living in a given country now and today – but what about elements that could affect that country’s affordability for you in the future.  Are there currency concerns, inflation fears, worries about the government in power or the country’s economy?

Think carefully about where you want to live with regard to how much it will cost you to live there day-to-day now – and think about this in terms of the bigger picture…i.e., what elements are already in place that could positively or adversely affect the affordability of that nation.

8) Can You Weather the Weather?

Canada ranks highly in many surveys into nations that are particularly liveable for British and American expats in retirement – however, such surveys are only theoretical surely.  After all, Canada has horrendous weather!  It snows for months on end, it has temperatures that fall below zero degrees for months on end and when it’s not snowing it’s raining and there are mosquitoes in parts of Canada that are as big as small birds!  Okay, so Canadians will tell us that there are parts of the nation where the weather is better and that there are days when the sun shines…but all in all, one would not move to live in Canada for the weather unless one were mad!

At the opposite end of the spectrum you have a country like Australia where there are cities such as Perth that can have weeks and week where the temperature never drops below 40 degrees!  For us Brits heading into winter the thought might momentarily appeal – but the reality of such oppressive and stifling heat, particularly when you’re older and you find it hard to deal with extremes of temperature, is not pleasant.

You need to find a happy medium – so, look carefully at weather charts and statistics that cover all year round.  After all, even Mediterranean countries have relatively nasty wet winters.

9) Fraternising With the Locals

Part of what makes the world go round so spectacularly bumpily at times is that we are all different.  We all have different moral values, different religious beliefs, different material concerns and a different understanding of what is and is not important to us personally, for our families and for the wider world as a whole.  And whilst you may fully appreciate this on one level right now already, if you move to live abroad and decide that you would like to really integrate with the locals, slowly but surely you will probably question everything you hold true!

When you move and live with others you will find that you may have to adapt and change, and if you don’t, that you will remain a stranger in a strange land.  So think about everything from the religious beliefs to the moral values held up as important in the country you’re thinking about moving to, and think about whether you can fit in and around that country’s people.

10) Be Realistic

Nowhere in the world is perfect, nowhere in the world will you find a paradise that makes you wake up feeling happy every single day.  Therefore you have to remain level headed and realistic about what you will gain by going to live abroad in retirement.  Yes, you might gain better weather, you may gain a better home environment and lifestyle – and you may even enjoy some health benefits by moving to a warmer, drier climate and away from the stress of work.  However, you will not be able to change who you are and what your life is fundamentally like just by changing location.  So, have a realistic understanding of how tough the transition abroad will be at times initially, and what life will be like, and you’re far more likely to find the right nation and adapt to live in it successfully.